Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Iago Aspas is set to complete his move to Liverpool today after undergoing a medical.

Celta Vigo forward Aspas, 25, has cancelled a Caribbean holiday to ensure the £7.2 million deal goes through this week and arrived on Merseyside last night.

He told Spanish sports paper Marca: "When I heard of Liverpool’s interest I did not hesitate even for a minute.

"(Liverpool) is one of the biggest clubs in the world and although I had offers from Italy and Portugal and other countries I decided my future was in English football.

"I hope I will get help from (Jose) Reina, Suso, Dani Pacheco, Luis Suarez, (Philippe) Coutinho, Lucas Leiva and Jose Enrique,' added Aspas.”I'm calm, but at the same time I'm very emotional about taking such an important step in my career."

Aspas is set to be joined at Anfield by Sevilla’s Luis Alberto who is expected to complete a £5m move by the end of the week.

Rodgers was close to bringing the player to Anfield last summer, but missed out on the 23-year-old when he opted for Spurs instead of Liverpool.

However, Sigurdsson has failed to hold down a regular place in the Tottenham Hotspur side, and the website claims the Reds will try to use this in their efforts to lure the player to Merseyside.

Rodgers has worked with the player previously of course, with Sigurdsson scoring seven goals in 19 appearances at the end of the 2011/12 season under the Northern Irishman.

And, with the Liverpool boss looking to add to his attacking options this summer following the arrivals of Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge in January, the attacking midfielder could be next off the transfer wish list.

Luis Suarez has pointed the finger at Manchester fans for making his life with Liverpool a living hell.

The Uruguayan striker, who is understood to be seeking a move away from the Reds this summer, insists he and his family are being forced out of the Premier League by annoying rival fans.

Describing a recent incident in an interview with RR-Gol, he said: ‘About a week ago I was walking in a shopping centre near Manchester and three or four guys asked me for a photo. While we were posing for it my wife said to me “Luis, get out of the photo”.

‘She noticed they were making biting gestures. I was with my wife and my daughter. Things like that get on your nerves.

‘My wife was on the brink of tears and the blokes ran off laughing. You get tired of stuff like that.’

Another bone of contention was the severity of his eight-match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra, in comparison with John Terry, who was given just a four match ban for a similar incident involving Anton Ferdinand.

‘Without any proof they gave me an eight match ban, but with Terry, where they had proof and lip-readers, they gave him four,’ he added.

Suarez, who has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid, also spoke of his desire to link up with Cristiano Ronaldo at the Bernabeu, and once again lashed out at the English press for ‘unfair treatment’.

Martin Skrtel’s agent has hinted that the Liverpool centre-half would be interested in a move to Napoli.

The Serie A runners-up are managed by Rafael Benitez, the man who took Skrtel to Anfield in 2008.

Benitez is understood to be interested in bringing the 28-year-old Slovakian to Italy and is mulling over making an offer.

Skrtel's representative Karol Csonto told Italian radio station Radio Crc: "Obviously Napoli know Martin well but there cannot be any contact between us and them if they do not first reach an agreement with Liverpool."

Napoli and Liverpool haven't yet discussed a possible move for the defender that lost his place in the starting XI towards the end of this season.

A meeting with boss Brendan Rodgers to define Skrtel's future is expected to be held soon.

Csonto added: There has been no contact between the two clubs. Martin has a contract with Liverpool and it is important to honour that.

"I will be in England next week to talk with Liverpool and define Martin's future."

Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva has been sharing some advice with the youngsters of Atlético Paranaense.

The 26-year-old was invited to the Atlético Paranaense training ground to chat to the young players about how he made it as a professional footballer and to give them advice on how they can do the same.

Lucas left Grêmio in 2007 to move to the Premier League and join Liverpool where he has become a huge success.

He hoped the lecture would encourage the young hopefuls to follow in his footsteps.

He told the club’s official website: "I hope I’ve managed to share some of my experiences and they can understand football today is becoming more professional and requires increasing dedication and commitment."

Later, via Instagram, Lucas, who has made 20 appearances for the Seleção, thanked the club for the opportunity to inspire the young footballers.

He posted: "I would like to that Atlético-PR for the invitation to chat with the kids about my career from when I left home until the present day."